Lenzerheide still on the World Cup calendar for mountainbikers

While the Grisons holiday region is the venue for both cross country and downhill races in the 2019 UCI World Cup calendar, one year later, in August 2020, only the Cross Country Tross will be guesting in Lenzerheide. As at this year's World Championships, the organisers also want to create a unique bike festival in the future with attractive side events.

Athletes, coaches, officials and fans all agree that history was written at the 2018 UCI Mountain Bike World Championships presented by Mercedes-Benz in Lenzerheide. Over 65,000 mountain bike fans created a unique atmosphere along the cross-country and downhill course during the five days of the competition. Nino Schurter said after his grandiose victory at the elite races on Saturday it was «the best World Championship they have ever had in mountain biking» and at the RIDE Mountain Bike Congress in Davos the World Championship in Lenzerheide was called «Woodstock of the MTB Community».

World Cup races in August 2019 and 2020
Today the UCI has published the Mountain Bike World Cup Calendar for the seasons 2019 and 2020. Lenzerheide is the venue for World Cup races in the disciplines Cross Country (2019 and 2020) and Downhill (2019) every August. Even though the elimination of downhill races in 2020 will hurt a little, the organizers in Lenzerheide are relieved. «The number of applicants for Mountain Bike World Cup events is now higher than the UCI World Cup calendar allows», says Christoph Müller. «We are delighted that we have been able to establish Lenzerheide as a World Cup venue for mountain biking», emphasises the OC President.

Grand Bike Festival to be further developed
At the same time Christoph Müller mentions that they don't want to rest on the laurels of this year's World Championships and will continue to expand the Bike Festival as part of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. «We can't say exactly what this will look like at the moment, of course. Even though the World Cup will again be one shoe size smaller, we want to offer the athletes and visitors an unforgettable experience», Christoph Müller promises. In addition, it is clear to those responsible that Lenzerheide will also be a candidate for the period after 2020 as a so-called double event with cross country and downhill.